But now, on the eve of peace, he earnestly begged to be allowed to resign the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and the Emperor Francis thereupon summoned to that seemingly thankless office a young diplomatist, who was destined to play a foremost part in the mighty drama of Napoleon's overthrow, and thereafter to wield by his astute policy almost as great an influence in Central and Southern Europe as the autocrat himself.
Metternich was born at Coblentz in 1773, and was therefore four years the junior of Napoleon.

He came of an old family of the Rhineland, and his father's position in the service of the old Empire secured him early entrance into the diplomatic circle.

After acting as secretary to the Imperial delegates at the Congress of Rastatt, he occupied the post of Austrian ambassador successively at the Courts of Dresden and Berlin; and in 1806 he was suddenly called to take up the embassy in Paris.

There he displayed charms of courtly tact, and lively and eloquent conversation, which won Napoleon's admiration and esteem.

He was looked on as a Gallophil; and, like Bismarck at a later crisis, he used his social gifts and powers of cajolery so as to gain a correct estimate of the characters of his future opponents.
Yet, besides these faculties of finesse and intrigue--and the Miltonic Belial never told lies with more winsome grace--Metternich showed at times a manly composure and firmness, even when Napoleon unmasked a searching fire of diplomatic questions and taunts.